The use of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for illumination purposes is increasingly being discussed. Large-area OLED components having large-area electrodes are intended to be used for this purpose. However, an OLED component of this type usually has the problem that the electrical conductivity of the large-area electrodes, particularly if the OLED component has a large-area transparent electrode, is very limited. The material-dictated restricted conductivity results in a non-uniform current supply over the OLED area since the supply voltage decreases laterally over the area of the electrode. This means that edge regions are better supplied in charge carriers in comparison with regions in the center of the OLED since a voltage drop takes place along the direction of extent of the electrode. This inhomogeneity in the current distribution then immediately becomes apparent in the luminance distribution of the OLED and has the effect that the brightness decreases greatly toward the center of the OLED, which is also referred to as the so-called bathtub effect.
A difference in brightness of 10 to 20% between, for example, the edge and the center of the OLED already has an adverse effect on the external appearance in the case of known large-area OLEDs. Although increasing the thickness of a transparent large-area electrode would increase the conductivity thereof, the transparency of the electrode and thus the coupling-out efficiency of the light generated in the OLED would thereby be reduced. Moreover, thicker electrodes are cost-intensive.